


At Your Disposal

by lyngan



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bull's Chargers, Canon-Typical Violence, Dragon Age: Inquisition Quest - Demands of the Qun, Eventual Romance, Slow Burn, inquisitor jumping from things the inquisitor shouldn't jump from, saving the chargers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-03-02 17:33:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18815695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lyngan/pseuds/lyngan
Summary: The Inquisitor and The Iron Bull have been flirting from almost the very moment they met, but when Bull has to make a tough choice between The Qun, His Chargers, and the Inquisition what will he choose?Canon Divergence: A secret third option presents itself during Demands Of The Qun and the fallout from said secret option.(it also gets a bit smutty-adjacent at the end)1st Person POV so Inquisitor has no specified race or gender but is a mage.





	1. A Hard Invitation To Refuse

**Author's Note:**

> When I played DA:I my Inquisitor liked jumping off things that, really, nobody should be jumping off. So when the Venatori go after The Chargers, what else is an Inquisitor to do?
> 
> Also fair warning: I nabbed some of the canon dialogue but most of it is based around what was said and done, not direct quotes and actions.

“My men and I are at your disposal”

I looked up at the newly bloodied warrior, broad grin slashing his face as surely as his battle axe had been slashing the bandits only moments earlier. ‘At my disposal’ he said but something in his posture had me waiting for the next step, the thing he seemed torn between saying and wanting to keep to himself.

He glanced to his mercenaries; one stepped up, hair buzzed close to his head on the sides and tufty on the top. A lieutenant most likely. The warrior was either trying to get out of the conversation or trying to get his lieutenant to answer the question I hadn’t even asked. I let hardness creep into my eyes, strictly focused on the warrior in front of me.

“I’ve been ordered to join your organisation, get close to the people in charge – I guess that would be you – and send reports back to my bosses”

“Bosses?” I felt my eyebrows rise, unbidden. Rats, I had been trying to learn to school my face better than that.

The warrior chuckled and I realised I had frowned at myself.

“Bosses?” I repeated, gathering my hard won harsh exterior again.

“Have you heard of the Ben-Hassrath?”

“Who hasn’t?” I said

“You would be surprised...”

“Why tell me?”

“I had the thought that it could be a mutually beneficial relationship. I send reports on you back and talk with your spymaster about reports I receive”

“Why?”

“You’re a noble cause; I’d like to get behind that.”

“And why are the Ben-Hassrath interested in us?”

“You are gaining power and traction. Everywhere you go you gain allies. People are starting to look to you when they have a problem, anywhere from missing sheep to bandits to…” he blew out his breath slowly and gestured around as if without words to finish the thought. “My bosses want to know how you’ve managed that.”

“Being nice never occurred to them huh?”

His laugh seemed to surprise him “apparently not.” He sobered, “they also want to know if you’re a threat to them.”

“Fine” I agreed.

 

The team proved useful, particularly The Iron Bull himself, although his penchant for demanding to go with me wherever I went was starting to get to me. At one point I was almost certain I would awake to find he had invaded my room. I started placing a chair behind my door after that. It would have been less of a problem if he didn’t have such a ridiculous sense of humour.

I didn’t have much of a type when it came to people I’m attracted to beyond them having a good sense of humour. To make matters worse, I was getting the impression he was starting to notice. I wondered if I was imagining the sultry tone he used to call me “Boss”. I told myself to shrug it off, ignore the feelings, he wasn’t loyal to me and I didn’t want to poke the bear in the hopes that it might fall asleep peacefully after I was done with it.

It was several months down the line when the report came from the Ben-Hassrath asking for our aid. It was The Iron Bull himself who brought the report to me. The joking a flirty tones he usually used were nowhere to be found, replaced by a militaristic stance and an unwillingness to meet my eye.

“They’re offering the chance for a treaty, an alliance, if you’d be willing to send a small team – even just my team – to assist on this mission.”

My advisors started to speak up, voicing doubt, telling benefits and downfalls. I silenced them with a hand. “What is this mission?”

“There’s a warship, a dreadnought. It is meant to take down a cargo boat, but the Ben-Hassrath think Venatori mages will be positioned along the shore. If they focus their attacks on the dreadnought, it doesn’t stand a chance.”

“So they want us to pick off the mages along the shore?”

“They’ve pinned down some likely locations.”

“I have to ask why they can’t just send their own sniper teams.”

“They’d have to send them all the way from home turf; they’d never get there in time.”

I knew I shouldn’t give him an answer there and then, shouldn’t allow my blooming feelings for him to impact my decision but I was filled with the desperate need to return him to his relaxed, casual, and flirtatious self.

“We are at your disposal, Bull.”


	2. Aggression was my friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A secret third option presents itself that doesn't mean abandoning The Chargers or the Qunari dreadnought... Risky though...

Locating the pockets of mages didn’t take long at all. The battle took even less tome. The mages in question were so focused on the task of taking down the warship that they were woefully unprepared for a land attack on them. We sent up the signal fire, laughing and joking, even with Bull’s old friend trying to dampen our spirits.

That was when I saw it. Across the small beach they emerged from a cave. Enemy mages. Headed straight for The Chargers.

I glanced, wide eyed to The Iron Bull. He stood, frozen.

I looked back at the chargers. They were outnumbered, at least 3 to 1, with no mages on their own side, and severely lacking in any ranged attackers at all.

“Your men need to hold that position” Gatt demanded

“They do that, they’re dead.”

“And if they don’t the Venatori retake it and the dreadnought is dead. You’d be throwing away an alliance with the Qunari! You’d be declaring yourself Tal Vashoth! With all you’ve given the inquisition, half the Ben-Hassrath already think you’ve betrayed us!”

Bull’s military stance was back in full force.

Gatt continued on, calling The Iron Bull by his old title and demanding he follow orders and allow his people, my people to sacrifice themselves in the line of duty. “You’re just going to let them die?” I asked, astounded.

“If they die holding position, they die with honour!” Gatt spat

I scoffed. “If they’re so ridiculously outnumbered –” I cut myself off, moving cautiously to the edge of the rise we stood atop. It was a fairly steep, long, and wet way down. I sat anyway and let myself slide down the rocks, pushing with hands and feet in an attempt to keep from falling and, at best, breaking a limb.

Somehow I managed. Standing up on the sandy beach I was glad my long coat would cover what felt like a very exposed and scraped backside. I wouldn’t be sitting in The Judgey Chair for a while, no matter what Cassandra or Josephine may have to say about it.

The humiliation of it all stung like the cold rain on my face. I pulled the magic from the hair, the static charge of a storm that wasn’t happening but was always around in the rain. Running toward the enemy mages and The Chargers, I pulled and pulled the magic closer and closer, focusing it into my staff.

With a guttural scream I let it out at my salt soaked enemies.

Lightning crackled. Strong and bright and violent. I caught my own hand, as I was prone to doing when I lost control of my emotions like this.

The lightly armoured men fell. Krem’s mouth was moving, as if he shouted at his people but his voice was lost to the thunder roaring in my ears. It would take too long to get another blast like that up and there was a warrior coming at me with a maul.

I blocked with my staff, one again glad I’d wrapped the oak in steel for just such an occasion. As the sword clashed against my staff, fizzles of electricity rebounded up both weapons. I sucked the power in like a desert wanderer finding water as my opponent’s fingers twitched in pain.

With him distracted I swung my staff at his knees, then at his head, wherever I could manage to land some semblance of a hit. Aggression was my friend. Most mages went for defensive spells in moments like this but holding an arcane shield for 30 seconds wouldn’t win me the fight, it would just tire me out so I’d die all the faster when it faltered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter should be up tomorrow (there's probably 5 chapters, because that's my thing apparently)


	3. Aching But Alive... And Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Romantic tension and awkward memories, that's what everyone needs in recovery, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting into the good stuff now!

I awoke in my rooms, aching but alive, and alone.

I sat up, looking out of the uncovered window – I had never liked curtains. It was dark, the moon full and bright in the sky. I pulled myself out of bed and snuck, barefoot, outside.

I inhaled deeply, savouring the magic in the air. Nights were always more magical under the full moon. I ignored the twinge in my shoulder as I made my way toward my favourite tree, an apple tree that was just starting to lose its leaves.

Ignoring my protesting butt, I sat on the soft soil under the tree branches and closed my eyes.

“You know, Boss, if you’re going to sleep, it’s much comfier in a bed.”

I couldn’t help the smile that twitched at the corner of my mouth before I turned it into a scowl. “I’m not sleeping.”

Through the ground I felt Bull step closer. “You sure, Boss?”

I sighed and opened my eyes to look up at him.

A vision flashed through me, a bloody hand reaching out, touching soft lips, the sound of quiet voices.

I tried to chase the thought but it burrowed like a nug into a hole and escaped me.

“Have you heard of meditation?”

“Never put much stock in it.” Bull admitted

“Most mages do it, especially nature mages.”

“And you’re a nature mage, huh, Boss?” He sat across from me, mirroring my pose.

“I draw my magic from the natural world, so yes.”

“As opposed to?”

“As opposed to an air or water mage, who draws their power from air or –”

“Water.” He interrupted. “How are those not natural?”

“It’s like on that beach.”

A pained look flashed across Bull’s face but he nodded for me to continue.

“I drew that power from the static charge in the air. If there was no rain, I wouldn’t have managed such a violent attack, especially since we weren’t close to any soil or plants either.”

“Huh…”

“A water mage, though, would have drawn power from the ocean and probably sent a huge wave over them, or pulled all the water from their bodies, or whatever.”

Bull grimaced.

I shrugged and immediately regretted the motion, hand flashing to touch my injured shoulder. “Gruesome but effective.”

“Not that it isn’t interesting to learn about how detached you are from your situation.”

I rolled my eyes. “You stab people, how I am detached?”

“But it doesn’t really explain why you’re meditating out here in the middle of the night when you’ve only just woken up from injury.”

“That’s a very long winded way of telling me I should be in bed.”

He glared.

“It helps me centre myself, boost my power, plus I really hate being indoors.”

A short laugh escaped him. “You’re something else, you know that Boss?”

“Thanks.”

I listened to the sounds of night time and allowed my sense of self to seep into the tree, its roots flowing deep into the ground, its branches stretching up to reach the moon. The moss on its trunk tickled at my ribs.

“What happened?” I finally asked, “after I got hurt?”

He was quiet so long I opened my eyes to see if he was still there.

“You don’t remember?” His voice was soft, caring, taking my brain to another moment.

Rocking wheels, each bump causing an agonising pain to sweep through my body from my wet and bloody shoulder. My head in his lap. His hands holding my injured shoulder. Soft voice whispering soothing words between bites of angry conversation.

“Bits…” I admitted

“After you went down they tried to swarm but the ship sank with quite the bang and they ran. That’s what Gatt told me.”

“What?”

“I was too busy.”

“Busy?”

“When you got hit I… I just reacted. Next thing I know I’ve run down to the beach, picked off a few stragglers and I’m hauling you out of the ocean.”

Salt stinging wounds and choking on water. Hard hands, too hot.

“We got you on a cart – pretty sure it belonged to those Tevines – and started heading for Skyhold. Gatt came with us, something about salvaging my reputation or the alliance or whatever, he wasn’t… he wasn’t impressed with how badly injured you were, saying things about you not making it home and how I betrayed the Qun by allowing myself to care for you.

“We took turns watching you – me and the Chargers, not Gatt. We didn’t stop except to change the horses. You…” He paused, looking at me with such intensity that I wanted to look away but felt like if I did he would never continue. “You – in one of your more coherent moments I asked why you had run in there like a nug toward cheese. You told me you didn’t want me to have to choose between my people and my family. You said you wanted to take the choice from me. You… you told me you never wanted to cause me pain like that…”

 

Talking had hurt. So had breathing. Everything hurt. “I don’t want you to hurt.” My bloody hand touched his impossibly soft lips. “Your family is so important to you. Don’t wait to realise it, don’t stop yourself admitting it. Don’t be like me”

“Shh, Boss.” His eyebrows pinched tight together.

“I didn’t want to admit it.” His hand should have been rough and calloused from wielding the huge battle axe but I could barely feel it as he took my hand from his face, “how much I feel for you.” He set my hand back at my side but it didn’t want to stay there, returning to his lips instead. “How much I want to kiss you.”

 

I clapped a hand over my mouth at the memory.

“Don’t worry, Boss.” The Iron Bull said, “we’ve all said some things when the blood loss gets us.”

“So…” I rubbed my face. “Where if Gatt now?”

“Somewhere around. I think Cullen is keeping an eye on him.”

“Not you?”

“We argued. It would get volatile if we were around each other right now. He’ll stick around until you talk to him, though.”

“I should get some sleep then.” I stood.

Bull stood with me as I tried to adjust to all the new pains.

“I’m sorry if I said something that made you uncomfortable.” I said, watching my hands brush my nightclothes back into place rather than him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter should be up tomorrow (definitely gonna be 5 chapters). Get ready for some serious drama with Gatt!   
> Also, the magic stuff here is totally made up by me, like I didn't even try to make it how magic works in any Dragon Age game.   
> Also I got my wife to proof read the next few chapters so it should be a little less dyslexic from here on out.


	4. Found Lacking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gatt tells the Inquisitor the Qun's response, and someone attempts assassination.

It hit midday before I decided my attempt to locate Gatt wasn’t going to work out. I caved and headed down to The Herald’s Rest to ask The Iron Bull for help. He was outside, loitering in the training yard but not actively training. I hovered around the corner for a few desperate heartbeats. Everything was different now. Everything except my own feelings.

I rolled my shoulders back and strode over to him. “You seen Gatt?” For the first time I was grateful that my eye was level with The Iron Bull’s chest, it made it much easier to avoid eye contact without looking like I was trying to avoid eye contact.

“Inquisitor.”

I spun, roots tugging up from the ground to grab at the voice’s owner. Gatt emerged from behind my favoured tree, stumbling over the newly emerged roots as I sent them back to their original location.

“It is my duty to inform you there will be no alliance between our peoples, nor will you be receiving any more Ben-Hassrath reports from your ally.”

"What? Why?"

"This mission was an assessment of the Inquisition, and your own capabilities. You were found lacking."

"One almost takedown and I'm not good enough for the Qun?"

"The fighting is not the problem." He turned to The Iron Bull. “Hissrad, you are to return for re-education.”

“Who will report back on the Inquisitions activities?”

“The Ben-Hassrath will send somebody else.”

Bull snorted. “Good luck getting the Inquisitor to trust someone new.”

Gatt shot a look at me. I took a step back, glancing at Bull to see if he wanted me to go. When he didn’t protest, my shoulders dropped and I headed back into the tavern. Maybe Krem would have something useful to say, or at least I could warn him that he may have to step into The Iron Bull’s massive shoes.

 *

“I thought you were ordered to return to the Ben-Hassrath?” I said when I emerged from the tower onto the high walls of Skyhold to find Bull already waiting for me there.

“I have a little time to tie up loose ends here.” The Iron Bull’s voice was surprisingly soft again.

I wanted to know what had changed between us that the casual flirtation was no longer an option. “You can tie me up any time you’d like” I joked.

Swift movement behind Bull pulled my attention. Before I could drag my staff from its holster The Iron Bull had taken out two Inquisition scouts. Hand still on my staff I waited for his explanation.

He laughed dryly, without any humour, touching at the new gash over his ribs. “Sorry Boss, thought I might need backup. Guess I’m not even worth sending professionals for.”

“And who exactly is sending, what I hope are fake Inquisition scouts to murder you?”

“Ben-Hassrath.”

“You literally just claimed to have tying up time!” The vines climbing the tower behind Bull rustled in a wind that didn’t exist. I took a breath to force my magic and emotions back under control.

“The longer I stay the higher the risk that I’m going to defect, that I’m going to stay here.”

“I saved the Chargers so your loyalty is in question.” I huffed.

Bull stared at me.

“You still think this dreadnought mission was just a test for me?” I scoffed. “You think the Ben-Hassrath reports were so wrong about the number of mages on the beach? You think Gatt didn’t check out those caverns? Come on, Bull. I did everything they asked. Dreadnought saved and what do I earn? No alliance and they’re taking you back to wherever it is the re-education happens! This was never about me.”

“What are you saying, Boss?”

“I’m saying that the Ben-Hassrath wanted to see whether you were more loyal to them or to The Bull’s Chargers. They don’t like the answer they’ve got. You’re torn in two and, unfortunately you need to pick a side. It’s us or them – I can’t believe I’m saying that but it’s true.” I brushed past him, trying and failing to avoid getting blood on my sleeve.

“That’s it then?”

“I’ll leave you with this. If you go back, and they send someone else to ‘get close to the Inquisitor’ I don’t expect that agent to see my nicer side.”

I swear, with each passing day as the Inquisitor I get close and closer to understanding why Hawke just ran off into the wilderness and hasn’t been seen since. Shame the anchor on my hand keeps me from doing the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had a whole fiasco with this chapter where it deleted itself and I had to do some fancy computer work to get it back.   
> Anyway, the final chapter will be up tomorrow, provided there are no more technological errors :/


	5. About Tying You Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Iron Bull makes his choice.

“So about tying you up.”

I jerked for my staff, dropping the reports Leliana had given me on the floor and dropping my weight into a battle ready stance. The Iron Bull sat, perched on the edge of my bed. I glared, dropping to a knee to pick up the reports before I registered what he had said.

“What?” I asked from the floor.

“You mentioned that I could tie you up any time I’d like.”

I shuffled through the papers, stacking them more neatly than strictly necessary as I thought about how to respond to that. “I did say that, yes…” I admitted.

Bull’s boots appeared in my field of vision. I swallowed and followed the stripes on his trousers up his legs, past his hips, and to his face.  “So… were you serious about that?”

I jerked upright, the base of my staff clunking against the wooden floor, and strode over to the desk. “I’d need to be sure I could trust you first.”

“And what makes you think you couldn’t?”

His voice was too close. I started to turn only to find a surge of warmth at my back and Bull’s big hands on the desk on either side of me, pinning me in. A thrill rushed up my spine, like a frisson of lightning magic coiling in my stomach. “Are you going back to Par Vollen to be re-educated?” My voice was breathless.

“No.” His deep voice in my ear made me shudder.

“Why not?”

“You were right, Boss. This whole thing was a test of my loyalty and I realised something.”

His hot breath on the back of my neck sent a shudder through my shoulders. The skin on the back of my neck prickled deliciously. “What’s that?” I whispered

“I believe in the Qun, it was my whole life.”

The warmth of his lips on my neck warred with the wash of cold through my heart. I started to squirm out of his grasp.

“The chargers are my family, you were right about that.”

This time, when his lips met my skin a sharp blast of lightning hit him. He flinched back enough for me to turn around before he was crowding me against the desk again.

“But my loyalty, it isn’t torn.”

“If you’re still loyal to the Qun then you had better leave sooner rather than later.” I spat the words with venom, trying to push against his huge hulking frame.

“No.”

The word had me pausing. Breathlessly waiting for what was to follow, turning my eyes up to his.

“My loyalty is to you.” His eyes bored into mine. “I’d follow you to the ends of Thedas, Boss. If you’ll let me.”

I searched for something to say, anything that might be an appropriate response, a response at all. “I thought you liked to be in charge.”

His deep throated chuckle rumbled where he pressed against me. “Only in one specific way. You make the tough choices, Boss, it’s one of the things I like about you.”

“So about tying me up…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Whatever I regret. Whatever I miss. This is where I want to be” - The Iron Bull
> 
> I hope you enjoyed reading that as much as I enjoyed writing it! I've got a Hawke In The Fade fic in the works so keep an eye out if that appeals to you (but I make no promises about when it's gonna get here because I am unreliable at best).

**Author's Note:**

> Next Chapter up (probably) tomorrow where you'll get to see the secret third option.


End file.
